Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Story of Hans-Jürgen Kuhl. Made fortune in leather hot pants. Bankrupt, turned to "art". His quest? A perfect $100 bill. "Warhol copied currency, and his prints are now priceless. Kuhl copied currency, got busted, and is now broke"
Niece of Virginia Woolf. Illegitimate daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Married Bunny Garnett, her father's former lover, twice her age. Lost her virginity to him in HG Wells's spare room. Four daughters. Lived to 93
"Hirst is not only the world's richest artist, but a transformative figure who can be assured of his place in history. Sadly this is not because of the quality of his work." Kunzru explains what has really been going on
Anthology-grade spoof. The concluding paragraph is worthy of Joyce. If you know Geoffrey Willans's books, this will send a shiver down your spine. If you don't, read them first, and then come back to this remarkable piece.
Sympathetic, very readable profile of Lucian Freud. Great painter who did some of his finest work in his old age. "His charisma was crucial to his method. It was what made his models bear happily the long ordeal of sitting for him"
Unstructured conversation with artist, interesting throughout. How we behave at airports. Why we should be Buddhists. Mourning a pet dog. Wrestling with Andy Kaufman. "Art is stuff that teaches you to use your senses"
Looking back at 16 of the most iconic photographs taken by Eve Arnold, who died this week at the age of 99. First female member of the Magnum agency, Arnold will be remembered for her remarkable shots of Marilyn Monroe, Malcolm X
Reviewing the life, work of artist David Hockney. A man who divides critics. Whilst generally admired as one of the finest draughtsmen of his generation, his finished works draw mixed reactions. How will he be seen in years to come?
On the correspondence between Groucho Marx and TS Eliot. Began when Eliot, a fan of "Duck Soup", asked for a picture of Marx, and led to an awkward dinner. "The two men found a mesmerising bond in each other’s very alienness"
George Braque was the equal of Picasso in pioneering cubism. His reputation has languished unfairly. The two "represent divergent attitudes toward modernity. Picasso is the athlete in the stadium. Braque is the poet in the tower"
"Painting numbers in careful succession from one to infinity he would make a work of art that tracked as well as anything the movement of time in a life, and life in time." Kept at it for 46 years. Completed numbers 1 to 5,500,000
Profile of Morse, of code fame. Began career as portrait artist. Widowed. Dabbled in politics. Narrowly avoided becoming one of the “great inventors who are generally permitted to starve when living, and are canonized after death"
